_Vita_ (life) was used by the Roman Christians to express their hopes of
eternity; and an Italian martyr was called Vitalis, whence the modern
Italian Vitale and German Veitel.
Vitalianus, a name formed out of this, is hardly to be recognized in the
Welsh form of Gwethalyn.
Vivia, from _vivus_ (alive), was the first name of Vivia Perpetua, the
noble young matron of Carthage, whose martyrdom, so circumstantially
told, is one of the most grand and most affecting histories in the
annals of the early Church. Her other name of Perpetua has, however,
been chosen by her votaresses.
Vivianus and Viviana were names of later Roman days, often, in the West,
pronounced with a _B_, and we find a Christian maiden, named Bibiana,
put to death by a Roman governor, under Julian the Apostate, under
pretence of her having destroyed one of his eyes by magic, a common
excuse for persecution in the days of pretended toleration. A church was
built over her remains as early as 465, and, considering the accusation
against her, it is curious to find Vyvyan or Viviana the enchantress of
King Arthur’s court.
Vivian has been a name for both sexes, and a Scottish Vivian Wemyss,
bishop of Fife in 615, was canonized, and known to Rome as St. Bibianus.
Vitus was the child whom St. Crescentia bred up a Christian, and who
died in Lucania with her. His day was the 15th of June, and had the
reputation of entailing thirty days of similar weather to its own.
Vitus is Vita, in Bohemia; Vida, in Hungary; Veicht and Veidl, in
Bavaria; and is used to Latinize Guy; but it is probable that this last
is truly Celtic, and it shall be treated of hereafter.[85]
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Footnote 85:
Fleury, _Histoire Ecclesiastique_; Butler; Villemarque, _Romans de la
Table Ronde_; Roscoe, _Boiardo_; Brand, _Popular Antiquities_; Grimm;
Michaelis.